


Broken Symbols

by holmes221b



Series: Darkest Memories [3]
Category: Doom (2005), Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Angst, Language, M/M, Medical ickiness, Spoilers, Xenopolycythemia, for the world is hollow and i have touched the sky, medical gore, questionable medicine, questionable science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-26
Updated: 2014-02-27
Packaged: 2018-01-13 21:31:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 6,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1241431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holmes221b/pseuds/holmes221b
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>McCoy deals with too many things at once, while Kirk finally figures out his feelings for the doctor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Could It Even Be?

**Author's Note:**

> This won't make sense if you haven't read Darkest Memories, as it picks up where that story left off.

_Sickbay, USS Enterprise_  
McCoy was _still_ (privately) berating himself for not bringing up his feelings for Kirk, four months later. He hid behind the apparent fact that his admission of love had not reached the _Enterprise_ , believing that Kirk’s silence on the subject indicated his ignorance. Of course, he was correct, but still, he really should have admitted his feelings to Kirk after his memories had returned—Reaper could snap and prevent Kirk from having sex with anyone else by force if he kept suppressing his feelings.  
Chapel, who knew of the doctor’s feelings for Kirk (the woman wasn’t blind, after all), decided to bring it up with M’Benga, in the hopes that the Vulcan specialist might be able to help her come up with a plan to get the doctor to admit his true feelings to Kirk while in the same room as the captain.  
The two were in the midst of plotting when Kirk suddenly burst into Sickbay, demanding to see the doctor.  
"Leonard is in his quarters, sleeping, Captain," Chapel calmly informed Kirk.  
Kirk frowned.  
"But Bones usually works the alpha shift," he objected, concern coloring his voice.  
"Doctor McCoy has been working extra shifts lately, sir," M’Benga explained. "I had to have Nurse Chapel here sedate him just to ensure that he would get some rest."  
"Even Doctor McCoy has his limits," Chapel added, referring more to McCoy’s extra chromosome than to the doctor himself.  
"Oh, I guess I’ll just have to go to his quarters then," Kirk declared, before leaving Sickbay.  
"Captain," Chapel called after him, "Leonard needs his rest."

~*~

_Chief Medical Officer's Quarters, USS Enterprise_  
Kirk let himself into McCoy’s quarters.  
"Bones?"  
Getting no response, the captain tiptoed across the main part of the room, to the sleeping area—McCoy’s bedroom. He found McCoy sound asleep on his bed, seemingly dead to the world.  
"Jim?" called a sleepy voice. "You really there?"  
Kirk came over to his friend’s bedside before replying.  
"Yeah, Bones, I’m here."  
"Are you alright?" the doctor inquired.  
"I’m just worried about you, Bones," Kirk admitted. "Old Spock sent me a message, telling me about something that happened in his timeline."  
"What does that mean?" McCoy asked, still somewhat sleepy because of the sedative still in his body.  
"According to Old Spock, you almost died of xenopolycythemia."  
That woke McCoy up.  
"Almost died? Xenopolycythemia?"  
Kirk nodded.  
"Dammit, Jim, how’d I manage to survive a fatal disease?" McCoy demanded.  
"Old Spock says that the _Enterprise_ encountered a race of people who happened to have the cure for it just in time,” Kirk replied. “He is concerned that whatever caused you to have it in his timeline will happen sooner in our timeline, before we can meet these people.”  
"I might not be the Leonard McCoy of his timeline, Jim," McCoy observed. "I didn’t take on the alias until after Nero encountered the _Kelvin_.”  
"But you could be, Bones," Kirk objected.  
"Jim, it’s still a moot point," the doctor insisted. "I don’t have xenopolycythemia now."  
"We should still talk to Old Spock about it though, just in case," Kirk insisted, stubborn as always.  
"Why do I get the feeling that I might as well agree to this?" McCoy asked.  
"Because you are super smart, that’s why," Kirk retorted.  
McCoy snorted, but did not deny the captain’s words. 


	2. Xenopolycythemia

_Passenger's Quarters, USS Honoria_  
Ambassador Spock sat in his quarters, patiently awaiting the _Honoria_ 's rendezvous with the _Enterprise_.  
He wasn’t entirely surprised that _his_ McCoy—or whatever he was calling himself now—had managed to figure out what had happened to him after the loss of Romulus. He wasn’t even surprised that the doctor had promised to rescue his half-Vulcan friend.  
He was surprised by the information concerning McCoy’s experience with xenopolycythemia that the old country doctor had sent him, information that likely would be a death sentence to this timeline’s McCoy if it weren’t for his presence here.

~*~

_Bridge, USS Enterprise_  
"We are being hailed, Captain," Lieutenant Uhura announced.  
"On-screen, Lieutenant," Kirk ordered.  
The main view screen came to life.  
"This is Captain James T. Kirk of the USS _Enterprise_.”  
 **"I am Captain Adolph Himmler of the USS _Honoria_.”**  
"What can we do for you, Captain Himmler?" Kirk asked.  
 **"We have a passenger who wishes to come aboard your vessel,"** Himmler replied, **"Ambassador Spock."**

~*~

_Transporter Room, USS Enterprise_  
Kirk had insisted on McCoy’s presence in the transporter room for the ambassador’s arrival, and the doctor had reluctantly agreed.  
"Welcome aboard the _Enterprise_ , Ambassador Spock,” Kirk said as soon as the old Vulcan had materialized on the transporter pad. “I apologize for our lack of decorum, we weren’t expecting you to come this quickly.”  
The old Vulcan nodded.  
"Is there someplace private we might be able to talk?" he asked. "I don’t have much time."  
McCoy frowned at that, but didn’t say anything.  
"We can use McCoy’s office," Kirk volunteered.

~*~

_Chief Medical Officer's Office, Sickbay, USS Enterprise_  
"Okay, so what was so important you couldn’t send a comm to tell us, Ambassador?" McCoy demanded, getting straight to the point.  
"In my timeline, my Doctor McCoy was exposed to xenopolycythemia in a mirror reality," Spock informed them, handing the doctor a PADD. "This contains all the research you’ve conducted since then."  
McCoy took the PADD from him and skimmed through it, while Kirk asked how he had managed to get data that he didn’t have before he had come to this universe.  
"It was part of a message sent to me by the McCoy of my timeline," the ambassador explained. "He has somehow found a way to bring me back home. I require the assistance of the _Enterprise_ to reach the coordinates he gave me.”  
"Ambassador, what do you know of Olduvai II—from your timeline?" McCoy asked suddenly.  
"Something wiped out the base, and a starship sent to investigate—all but one member of the crew."  
"You happen to know who that sole survivor was?" McCoy asked.  
"Yes, quite well," the Ambassador replied, "Doctor Leonard Horatio McCoy, medical officer."  
"Okay, so that might rule out any possibility of exposure from Olduvai II," McCoy mused.  
"From what Doctor McCoy told me of what happened, he never went down to the surface. He didn’t even know anything about the mission until people started mutating onboard his ship," Spock observed.  
"Bones, you never mentioned being exposed to anything while you were down there," Kirk reminded the doctor.  
"That’s because I don’t _remember_ being exposed to anything, Jim,” the doctor explained. “But Solvak could have infected me with anything after I lost consciousness, and we would never know.”  
"Wouldn’t M’Benga have found anything if you were infected?" Kirk asked, "or Chapel, even?"  
McCoy shook his head.  
"The xenopolycythemia wouldn’t show up on a typical exam until it got to the point where my extra chromosome couldn’t keep up anymore with the excessive levels of red blood cells in my blood," he explained.  
"How do you know that?" Kirk demanded.  
"My counterpart from the other timeline was very detailed in his message, Jim," McCoy explained. 


	3. The Other Side of the Coin

_Bridge, USS Montgomery Scott; Somewhere in Space, 'Original' Timeline_  
"We’ve been here three days, ma’am," First Officer Asher Morrison remarked. "If Doctor Matherson was successful, wouldn’t he be back by now?"  
Captain Rosalyn Parks, granddaughter of Christine Chapel, shook her head.  
"Traveling between universes is a tricky thing, Morrison," she reminded him.  
"Captain!" called the young ensign in charge of the ship’s sensors. "The wormhole is opening!"  
"Anything coming out, Ensign Patterson?" Rosalyn asked.  
Patterson shook his head.  
"No, ma’am," he said, "but I am getting a radio signal."  
"Route it to Wilkins’ station," Rosalyn directed.  
"Aye, ma’am," acknowledged Patterson.  
Rosalyn turned to the comms officer on duty, Lieutenant Rayne Wilkins.  
"Lieutenant Wilkins, how long will it take you to translate those radio waves?" she asked.  
"Assuming they are from Matherson, ma’am," Wilkins replied, "two hours at best."  
Rosalyn nodded.  
"Do it," she ordered.

~*~

_Cockpit, USS Sylar; Somewhere in space, ‘Alt’ Timeline_  
It had been many years since Matherson had last spoken to Spock, and time had left its mark on his friend. He hadn’t realized just how long it had been until he’d gotten a reply to his message. The shock of seeing his friend so old and frail almost distracted him from Spock telling him that he would meet up with him on board the _Enterprise_.  
Matherson wondered who would be captain of the Federation flagship at this point in her history—definitely not Kirk, it was too soon for him. 


	4. Back to the Beginning

_Bridge, USS Enterprise_  
Kirk frowned at the coordinates Old Spock had given him—they were the exact coordinates of where he had been born.  
"Captain?" Spock asked. "Are you well?"  
"Yeah, I’m fine, Spock," Kirk replied, before giving the coordinates to Lieutenant Sulu. "Sulu, how soon can you get us there at warp three?"  
Sulu quickly inputted the coordinates into the ship’s computer before replying.  
"48 hours at warp three, sir," the pilot reported.  
"That’ll do," Kirk declared.

~*~

_Chief Medical Officer’s Office, Sickbay, USS Enterprise_  
"The instructions for synthesizing and administering the cure are all here, Ambassador?" McCoy asked, referring to the PADD the old Vulcan had given him.  
The ambassador nodded.  
"It is all there, Doctor," he affirmed.  
"Did your McCoy, uh, did he have an extra chromosome?" McCoy asked.  
"Indeed he did, Doctor," he replied. "Or, rather, I should say that he does."  
"I can imagine that it was a lot easier for me to stay as McCoy for a longer period of time, what with the advances in prosthetic surgery," the doctor mused aloud.  
Spock nodded.  
"McCoy lived to be almost 200 years old," he said. "For a time, I thought he had actually died, but then he managed to find a way of contacting me without drawing attention to himself."  
McCoy chuckled.  
"I’ve gotten pretty good at that, just ask Nurse Chapel—she knew me before I became Leonard McCoy." 


	5. Reunions

_Bridge, USS Enterprise; 48 hours later_  
"Captain, we are being hailed," Uhura announced.  
"On-screen," Kirk ordered.  
Moments later a somewhat familiar face appeared on the main view screen.  
**"This is Doctor James Matherson of the USS _Sylar_.”**  
"And I am Captain James Kirk of the USS Enterprise,” Kirk said.  
Matherson started at this.  
**" _Jim_!?"** he asked, sounding like McCoy. **"Is it really you?"**  
Kirk scowled at Matherson. What was going on?  
"I should never go blonde," muttered McCoy from behind Kirk—when did he get on the Bridge?  
The doctor had spoken too softly for anyone but Kirk to have heard him, but Matherson tensed in response to the mutter anyways.  
**"And you must be Doctor Leonard McCoy,"** Matherson remarked, eying McCoy as he spoke.  
"Yeah, that’s me," McCoy confirmed. "And why are you here?"  
**"I am here to take Ambassador Spock back home, Doctor McCoy,"** Matherson replied.  
"Why don’t you come onboard, Doctor Matherson," Kirk suggested. "We have a lot to discuss."

~*~

_Main Conference Room, USS Enterprise_  
Samuel “Cupcake” Giotto, _Enterprise_ 's Chief of Security, personally escorted Doctor Matherson from the transporter room to the main conference room, where Kirk, Spock, Ambassador Spock, and McCoy were waiting.  
As soon as Giotto had left the room, Matherson turned to Kirk.  
But before he could even open his mouth to speak, Ambassador Spock cut him off.  
"Doctor Matherson, while you are here, you could discuss certain other events," the old Vulcan interjected.  
Matherson scowled at the interruption, but did not disagree with the Ambassador.  
"I probably should explain how I got here first, shouldn’t I?" he inquired.  
The Ambassador nodded, and the others agreed.  
"After the destruction of Romulus, I was visited by the most annoying of beings," Matherson remarked. "You probably remember him, Spock."  
From the way the doctor said the name, it was clear he was talking to the Ambassador.  
"We have encountered many such beings over the decades, Doctor," he remarked. "You will have to be specific as to which one you are referring to now."  
Matherson muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “green-blooded hobgoblin”.  
"Trelane," Matherson said aloud. "Trelane decided to come pay me a visit. Nearly blew my cover in the process."  
Ambassador Spock did not have any “fond” memories of the omnipotent trickster, and he would have openly shuddered, had he been more emotional, at the mention of Trelane.  
"Why did he come visit you, Doctor?" Spock asked.  
"Trelane wanted me to know what had happened to _my_ Spock, and to some Romulan named Nero,” Matherson replied. “He even helped me build a ship capable of traveling between these two timelines.”  
"At what cost, Doctor?" the Ambassador inquired with the Vulcan equivalent of concern.  
"My forgiveness."  
"Who is Trelane?" Kirk asked.  
"A pain in the ass omnipotent being," Matherson replied.  
“‘Blow your cover’?” McCoy asked, more for his friends’ benefit than his own, because he had already figured out who Matherson was.  
Matherson frowned at McCoy.  
"Surely you of all people would understand what I am talking about, Doctor McCoy," he remarked.  
"Pretend that I don’t," McCoy insisted.  
"Do they know about you?" Matherson asked, indicating the Captain and the First Officer.  
McCoy nodded his head.  
"James Matherson is a false identity," Matherson explained. "My real name is John Grimm."  
"Which makes you Ambassador Spock’s Leonard McCoy," Spock concluded.  
Matherson nodded.  
"Fascinating," Spock mused.  
McCoy and Matherson both rolled their eyes. 


	6. This could take awhile?

_Sickbay, USS Enterprise_  
"There, now it should be able to synthesize the cure when you are ready for it," Matherson announced, stepping away from Sickbay’s medicine replicator database computer.  
"Will it work against all strains of xenopolycythemia?" Chapel asked.  
Matherson shook his head.  
"It only works on two of the five strains of xenopolycythemia known in my timeline, Chr—erm, Nurse Chapel," he replied.  
Chapel rolled her eyes.  
"You’re allowed to call me ‘Chris’, James," she reminded him.  
"Yeah, but—" Matherson objected.  
"No buts, James," the nurse insisted.  
"I wouldn’t fight with her, Bones," Kirk said as he entered Sickbay.  
"Wrong doctor, Captain," Chapel happily corrected him.  
Kirk blushed.  
"My bad," he said, "though in my defense, you do look a lot like my Chief Medical Officer."  
"Considerin’ who I used to be, that’s not a surprise at all," Matherson said drily.  
"DAMMIT, JIM!" bellowed McCoy from his office. "GET YOUR DAMN ASS IN MY OFFICE NOW! I DON’T NEED YOU FLIRTING WITH EVERYTHING THAT HAS A PULSE ON THIS FUCKING SHIP!"  
"What did you do to piss him off that bad, Jim?" Matherson asked.  
"I’ll find out when he tells me," Kirk replied.


	7. Or Not

_Chief Medical Officer’s Office, Sickbay, USS Enterprise_  
Once Kirk finally got into McCoy’s office, he found out that McCoy wasn’t really angry with him. But the doctor still had bad news for him.  
"What’s all this mumbo-jumbo mean, Bones?" Kirk asked, indicating the PADD the doctor had handed him.  
"I have xenopolycythemia," McCoy replied, "and it is progressing rapidly."  
"Don’t we have the cure for that now?" Kirk asked.  
"M’Benga’s running tests to figure out which strain I have," McCoy replied. "The cure Matherson gave us doesn’t work on all strains of xenopolycythemia."  
"But the cure worked for him, so surely you have whatever strain Matherson had," Kirk objected.  
McCoy shook his head.  
"It doesn’t work that way, Jim," McCoy replied. "The exposure occurred after Nero destroyed the _Kelvin_ , after the point where our timelines diverge.”  
"What if the cure doesn’t work on you, Bones?" Kirk asked.  
"We find a cure that does, of course," McCoy replied, "we can buy some time by treating the symptoms as they present themselves."

~*~

_Medical Lab 2, USS Enterprise_  
The computer chimed, indicating that the test was complete. M’Benga pressed a button, and the results appeared on the screen beside the testing station:  
 **XENOPOLYCYTHEMIA, STRAIN UNKNOWN**  
"A new strain of xenopolycythemia?" breathed M’Benga, surprised.  
"Could I have a look at this strain of yours, M’Benga?" asked Janet Frasier, one of the few members of the _Enterprise_ Medical Department who didn’t have a (regular) shift in Sickbay. Janet specialized in epidemiology, and was much more at home among her disease models than in Sickbay.  
"Sure," M’Benga said before pressing a button so that the strain’s DNA was displayed on the screen.  
"This isn’t a naturally developed strain of xenopolycythemia, M’Benga," Janet remarked.  
"How can you tell?" the dark-skinned doctor asked, unable to see what the epidemiologist saw.  
Janet indicated a particular section of genetic code.  
"Under Federation law, any bacterial or viral DNA used for research is required to have a genetic marker that indicates two things—one, that it is not a naturally occurring virus or bacterium, and two, lab of origin," Janet explained.  
"Can you tell which lab this strain came from, Janet?" M’Benga asked.  
Janet shook her head.  
"No, but I can look it up for you."  
"Please do," M’Benga replied, "I need to update Leonard on what I’ve got, bring what you find to him."

~*~

_Chief Medical Officer’s Office, Sickbay, USS Enterprise_  
"Figures you’d get a strain that isn’t responsive to the cure," Matherson groused.  
"According to M’Benga, this strain isn’t even naturally occurring, McCoy grumbled right back.  
"So either you were accidentally exposed, or else someone is trying to kill you," Matherson observed.  
"I can’t think of anyone who would want to kill me," McCoy quickly pointed out.  
"UAC?" Matherson asked. "I’m sure they would love to get their hands on you."  
"They are long gone, Matherson," McCoy growled.  
"Okay, so accidental exposure," Chapel interjected.  
"Been to any labs recently, Doctor McCoy?" Matherson asked.  
"As a matter of fact, yes, I have," McCoy replied.  
"What lab?" Matherson asked.  
"Olduvai II," the doctor replied.  
"Shit," swore Matherson. "In my timeline, they were experimenting with xenopolycythemia as well as C-24."  
"According to our records, the same was true for our timeline as well," Chapel reported.  
"Has Janet been able to identify the strain’s lab of origin yet?" McCoy asked.  
Chapel shook her head.  
"She’s got a long list to go through, so it’s likely that she hasn’t come across the right lab yet," the head nurse added.  
"McCoy to Medical Lab 2."  
 **"Frasier here."**  
"Janet, have you checked the strain against the marker registered for Olduvai II yet?" McCoy asked.  
 **"Not yet, Leonard,"** the epidemiologist replied.  
"Check it now, please," McCoy requested.  
 **"Okay,"** Janet said in acknowledgement.  
A pause, then Janet began swearing in fluent Chinese (a result of her passion for a 20th century sci-fi TV show).  
"Janet?" McCoy asked.  
 **"It’s a perfect match for one of Olduvai II’s xenopolycythemia strains, Leonard,"** Janet explained.  
"Judging by your reaction, this isn’t the nice strain," McCoy observed.  
 **"Leonard, you’ve been exposed to Olduvai II’s Andromeda strain of xenopolycythemia,"** Janet announced. 


	8. Go Away, Angel of Mine

_Chief Medical Officer’s Quarters, USS Enterprise_  
"Don’t you have your own quarters to sleep in?" McCoy demanded.  
"Yeah, but I need to talk with you first," Matherson replied.  
"Can’t it wait until tomorrow morning?" grumbled the doctor. "I’m a sick man, I need my beauty sleep."  
"Chris told me about your feelings for Jim," Matherson continued. "You can’t just sit on that, Leonard."  
"Jim is going to die eventually," McCoy replied.  
"Not if you were to give him C-24," Matherson observed.  
"You know as well as I do that I can’t do that—he’s got that damned gene for violence."  
"You could remove the gene," Matherson suggested.  
"And change what makes him who he is?"  
"You know as well as I do that personality is just as much nurture as it is nature."  
"Doesn’t matter," McCoy insisted, "I’m not going to change Jim in any way."  
"What if he wanted it?" Matherson asked. "What if he was willing to undergo such changes so that you would no longer have to be alone?"  
"I’m not alone, I’ve got Chris," McCoy objected.  
"For how long? It’s only a matter of time before she dies, just like Sam," Matherson countered.  
"I tell him how I feel, it’ll make him decide to do something stupid, like what you’re suggesting," McCoy insisted.  
Matherson had forgotten how stubborn he used to be (and still was, really).  
"What if Jim has feelings for you too? You can’t just ignore that away."  
"If he admits to loving me while sober, without prior knowledge of my own feelings for him, then I will admit my feelings to him," McCoy decided.  
"And you’d better act on said feelings after declaring their existence to each other," Matherson added.  
McCoy scowled at his other self.  
"Stop getting ideas," he growled. "I mean it, James."  
"I’m not the one who has a great niece plotting a way to get the two of you to at least admit your feelings to each other," Matherson observed.  
"What, that didn’t happen in your timeline?" McCoy challenged.  
"In my timeline, the mastermind behind the plot to get my Jim and me to admit our feelings to each other was Lieutenant Uhura," Matherson replied.  
"Why not Chris?" McCoy wondered.  
"Uhura was faster."

~*~

_Conference Room B, USS Enterprise_  
Chapel sat at the head of the conference table, with M’Benga at her right. Immediately to the doctor’s right sat Scotty. Gaila sat to the right of the Chief Engineer. Ambassador Spock sat across from Chapel, at the opposite end of the table. To his right, across from Gaila, sat Lieutenant Sulu. Ensign Chekov sat between Sulu and Uhura, across from Scotty. Uhura sat between Chekov and Chapel, across from M’Benga.  
"You all know why we are here—or at least, have an inkling of what that reason might be," Chapel began.  
Chekov raised his hand.  
"What is it, Ensign?" the head nurse asked.  
"What is ze reason we are here, Nurse Chapel?" the Russian asked.  
"We are here to get Doctor McCoy and the Captain to realize their feelings for each other," Chapel explained.  
"What about Ambassador Spock?" Sulu asked. "Why is he here for this meeting?"  
"I offered to help, Lieutenant Sulu," the ambassador replied.  
"First, we need a plan," Chapel declared. "Any suggestions?"  
"We could send them both messages and get them to meet up in the Observation deck, where a romantic dinner awaits them," suggested Uhura.  
"This is the _Enterprise_ , not a soap opera,” observed Gaila. “That would never work on the Captain.”  
No one challenged Gaila’s claim—everyone knew for a fact that Gaila had slept with Kirk at the Academy, even Scotty and the Ambassador (Gaila herself had told Scotty and the Ambassador had ways of finding these sorts of things out).  
"Does anyone have any better ideas, then?" Uhura demanded.  
"Sandwiches," declared Scotty confidently.  
"Sandwiches?" everyone else asked, confused.  
"The captain knows a good sandwich when he sees one, even if he doesn’t consciously realize it," the Scotsman explained. "We just have to make him taste that sandwich, and then he’ll consciously realize that the doctor is a good sandwich."  
Gaila, who was used to Scotty’s weird remarks, said, “Well, now that our goal has been clearly defined by Mr. Scott, does anyone else have any ideas as to how we are to achieve it?”  
"I kinda like Uhura’s idea," Sulu admitted.  
"Kinda?" M’Benga asked.  
"We could forge notes, have them signed from a secret admirer," Sulu explained, "but we could reroute them so that they are actually coming from each other without their knowledge."  
"That’s actually a good idea, Lieutenant Sulu," the Ambassador observed. "I’m sure we can convince Doctor Matherson to help us." 


	9. Biotacin and Agarim

_Sickbay, USS Enterprise_  
McCoy submitted himself to the physical without complaint.  
"How does it look, Chris?" he asked once his head nurse was finished.  
"Not good at all, Len," Chapel replied. "This strain was designed to act faster than normal, but your 24th chromosome is slowing it down somewhat."  
"But not slow enough for my immune system to handle the pathogen?" McCoy asked.  
Chapel nodded.  
"Janet and James are working on developing a cure for it right now," she added.  
"James?"  
"You know, James Matherson," Chapel clarified, "the you from the other timeline. That James."  
"You’re already on first name basis with him?" McCoy asked.  
"There’s nothing wrong with that," Chapel observed.  
"Only as long as you don’t fall in love with him," McCoy added. "Please tell me that you aren’t having sex with him."  
"Oh, god, Len, of course not!" exclaimed Chapel as Kirk walked into Sickbay.  
"What are you doing here, Jim?" McCoy demanded.  
"Just wanted to make sure you were alright before I headed up to the Bridge, Bones," Kirk explained.  
Chapel wondered how the hell her great uncle could be oblivious to the love the young blonde clearly had for him.  
"Well, you’ve checked in on me, now you can go up to the Bridge," McCoy insisted peevishly.  
Kirk ignored the doctor, turning his attention to Chapel.  
"Is he well enough for duty, Nurse?" he asked.  
"For the time being, sir."

~*~

_Medical Lab 2, USS Enterprise_  
Janet stared at Matherson.  
"What?" the doctor asked, confused.  
"It’s just that I’ve never heard of biotacin, Doctor Matherson," Janet explained. "I can guess at what its purpose is, though."  
Matherson sighed. He hated time travel.  
"Sorry, Doctor Frasier," he apologized. "I keep forgetting that we aren’t in my lab."  
"It’s alright," Janet replied. "Maybe we can get the replicator to replicate some biotacin, if you can’t work without it."  
Matherson smiled wanly as he shook his head.  
"It wouldn’t be any good, biotacin is tricky to replicate correctly," he explained.  
"What should we use instead then? Agarim?" Janet asked.  
"Agarim will have to do," Matherson declared. 


	10. Even as the curtains fall down

_Chief Medical Officer’s Quarters, USS Enterprise; Three days later_  
The disease had abruptly begun to progress rapidly, and without warning. McCoy needed to alert Sickbay, but he was blinded with pain, blood roaring thru his veins, blocking out the everyday sounds of life aboard a starship.  
He called out to the computer, but he couldn’t even hear his own voice, let alone the computer’s annoyingly cheerful chirping.

~*~

_Captain’s Quarters, USS Enterprise_  
The chirp of the comm interrupted the captain’s peaceful slumber.  
"Kirk here," he said, even as he glanced at the chronometer at his bedside—it was only 2:30 in the wee hours of ship’s morning.  
 **"Jim?"** McCoy asked, not entirely sure of himself. **"I think we don’t have as much time as we thought we did."**

~*~

_Private Recovery Room, Sickbay, USS Enterprise; Four hours later_  
Kirk looked up as Matherson entered the room.  
"How is he?" the doctor asked.  
"Stable," the captain replied, "at least, for now."  
"What about you, Captain?" Matherson asked.  
Kirk frowned.  
"I’m not the one in a biobed, Doctor Matherson," he objected.  
"You love him, Captain," Matherson remarked. "Please don’t try to deny that having a loved one on the verge of death has no effect on your own well-being, you won’t win."  
"I can’t love him, Matherson," Kirk insisted.  
"Why can’t you love him?" Matherson asked. "Is it because he is your Chief Medical Officer?"  
Kirk shook his head.  
"It’s not that," he admitted.  
"What is it, then?" Matherson pressed.  
"Bones is special," Kirk explained. "It wouldn’t be fair to him if I admitted my feelings to him. He’s already suffered more heartbreaks than any person should, I don’t want to be another."  
"Shouldn’t you let the doctor make that decision?" Matherson inquired.  
"Jim…"  
"Bones?"  
"Everything hurts, Jim," mumbled McCoy.  
"I’ll get Nurse Chapel," Matherson volunteered.

~*~

_Main Conference Room, USS Enterprise_  
"How is the doctor, Captain?" Uhura asked once Kirk had taken his seat at the conference table.  
"Stable," Kirk replied—what else could he say to describe his friend’s current state of being?  
"Is there anything we can do, Captain?" Scotty asked.  
Kirk nodded.  
"Matherson needs to talk with you, Spock," he informed the half-Vulcan.  
The First Officer nodded.  
"Do you still require my presence here?" he asked.  
Kirk shook his head.  
Once Spock had left the room, Kirk turned back to Scotty.  
"Scotty, there’s a machine that Matherson said might buy us some time," he said.  
"Aye, Doctor Matherson spoke with me about it," the Scotsman acknowledged. "It’s nearly finished."  
The captain nodded.  
"As soon as it is functional, bring it up to Sickbay and help Nurse Chapel set it up in Doctor McCoy’s room."  
"Aye, Captain," Scotty acknowledged.  
Kirk then dismissed the Chief Engineer, knowing that he was itching to get back to work. The captain then tasked Uhura with acting as a central clearinghouse for the effort to cure McCoy, Sulu with looking into herbal remedies, and Chekov with looking into the construction of a cryo-chamber.  
"What about you, Captain?" Giotto asked. "What are you going to do?"  
"I’m going to do my job as captain of this ship, Cupcake," Kirk replied. "I can’t have my crew losing hope."  
"I am certain that none of us will think any less of you if you stay at the doctor’s bedside, sir," Giotto assured Kirk.  
Kirk shook his head.  
"I can’t become emotional, not now," he insisted. "Spock needs to be in the labs, developing a cure, not on the Bridge, doing my job."  
Giotto nodded in understanding. 


	11. The Answer Found?

_Private Recovery Room, Sickbay, USS Enterprise_  
It only took two days for Janet, Matherson, Spock, and the entire science and medical departments to develop a cure for McCoy’s particular strain of xenopolycythemia. But even though they had given McCoy the cure already, he still had a long way to go before he could return to duty—the xenopolycythemia had taken a lot out of the doctor, even with the advantages his extra chromosome gave him.  
M’Benga, Matherson, Spock, Ambassador Spock, and Giotto had cornered Kirk in his ready room to inform the captain that he had been declared temporarily unfit for command due to emotional concerns. Kirk gave up his command without a struggle, knowing that they were right—and since McCoy’s life was no longer in his half-Vulcan first officer’s hands, the captain no longer had any qualms about temporarily stepping down from command.  
Now Kirk kept vigil at his friend’s bedside, eagerly awaiting the hour when the doctor would finally regain consciousness.  
"Jim?" McCoy weakly mumbled. "Are you really there?"  
"Yeah, I’m really here, Bones," Kirk replied. "How are you feeling?"  
"Isn’t it the middle of Alpha shift?" McCoy wondered, ignoring Kirk’s question.  
"Yes, it is," Kirk confirmed, knowing that when McCoy got focused on something, there was no distracting him.  
"Shouldn’t you be on the Bridge right now?" McCoy pressed.  
Kirk really didn’t want to talk about this now, but McCoy would be able to tell if he lied, even in his weakened state, so he told the doctor the truth.  
"I was emotionally compromised, so Spock had me declared temporarily unfit for command as soon as you started responding to the cure," he informed the doctor.  
"Emotionally compromised?" McCoy asked. "What aren’t you tellin’ me, Jim?"  
"I love you, Bones," Kirk admitted.  
"Dammit, Jim," groaned McCoy.  
"Bones, I wasn’t going to ever admit my feelings to you, especially since it wouldn’t be fair to you, you’ve already had enough heartbreak in your long life, but Old Spock convinced me that I should tell you," Kirk admitted.  
"Old Spock?" McCoy asked, surprised.  
"You know, Ambassador Spock," Kirk clarified.  
"I damn well know who he is, Jim," McCoy growled. "What did he say to change your mind?"  
"He told me about the relationship his Kirk had with his McCoy—with Matherson," Kirk replied.  
"And you want that life? Jim, I will outlive you!" McCoy snapped.  
Kirk shook his head.  
"No, Bones, you’re wrong," he corrected the doctor. "In that other timeline, I’m still alive and well."


	12. Spock's Farewell

_Bridge, USS Enterprise; Two weeks later_  
Kirk wasn’t sure what he had been expecting after Matherson had operated on him, making him able to be safely exposed to C-24, but he was sure it wasn’t the anticlimactic lack of change that did happen.  
His musings were interrupted by Lieutenant Uhura, informing him that they were being hailed by the _Sylar_.  
"On-screen, Uhura," Kirk ordered.  
 **"Captain Kirk, it was nice getting to know you and your crew,"** Matherson said. **"Tell Doctor McCoy that he should trust you with his heart, if he hasn’t already done so."**  
Kirk smiled.  
"I’ll make sure he understands," Kirk assured Matherson. "May I speak with the Ambassador?"  
Moments later, Ambassador Spock came into view.  
 **"Jim?"** he asked.  
Kirk held up his hand in the traditional Vulcan gesture as he spoke.  
"Live long and prosper, Ambassador," the captain said.  
Spock’s eyes twinkled as he copied Kirk’s gesture.  
 **"Peace and long life, Jim,"** the old Vulcan replied.  
 **"Okay, can we go now?"** called Matherson from off-screen.  
Kirk snorted.  
"Yes, Matherson, you can go now," Kirk said.  
 **"Good,"** the doctor remarked, before cutting the signal on his end.  
Moments later, the _Sylar_ vanished, back in the timeline it belonged in.  
"Spock, you have the conn," Kirk said.  
"Captain?" the half-Vulcan asked.  
"I’m going to pay McCoy a surprise visit in Sickbay," he explained.  
Spock nodded.  
"Please inform the doctor that the Bridge crew wishes him a swift return to duty, sir," he requested.  
"I shall do that, Mr. Spock," the captain replied.

~*~

_Bridge, USS Montgomery Scott; Somewhere in Space, ‘Original’ timeline_  
"Lieutenant Wilkins?" Rosalyn asked.  
"It’s only been an hour and thirty minutes, ma’am," Wilkins reminded the captain, not looking up.  
Rosalyn scowled at the back of the on-duty comms officer’s head.  
"Captain!" called Ensign Patterson excitedly. "The wormhole’s opening again!"  
"Is anything coming out this time, Ensign?" Morrison asked.  
"No—wait, there’s ship coming out of the wormhole, sir," the young ensign replied.  
"Is it the _Sylar_?” Rosalyn asked.  
"Looks like her, ma’am," Patterson replied, "but the sensors aren’t able to make her out clearly enough to be completely certain."  
"Wilkins, go to yellow alert," Morrison ordered.  
Used to the unique style of command of Rosalyn and her first officer/husband, Wilkins obeyed without hesitation.  
 **"Middleton to Bridge."**  
"Parks here. What is it, Doctor Middleton?" Rosalyn responded.  
 **"What’s going on up there?"** Julius Middleton, _Montgomery Scott_ 's assistant Chief Medical Officer (and husband of the ship's Chief Medical Officer, James Matherson) asked.  
"There’s a ship coming through the wormhole, Doctor," Rosalyn replied.  
 **"The _Sylar_?”** Julius asked hopefully.  
"Looks like it," the captain replied.  
"Captain, it is the _Sylar_!” Patterson called. “Sensors are making her out clearly now!”  
Rosalyn smiled as she relayed this information to Julius.  
 **"Davis, Coffee, come with me,"** Julius ordered, their responses too faint for Rosalyn’s ears.  
"Julius, you left the comm on again," the captain called with a soft smile.  
 **"Don’t tell James,"** Julius replied. **"Middleton out."**


	13. Matchmaker, Matchmaker

_Chief Medical Officer’s Office, Sickbay, USS Montgomery Scott; 'Original’ Timeline_  
"How was it, James?" Julius asked, sitting down across the desk from Matherson.  
The doctor scowled at his husband.  
"It was like going back in time, but with a twist," Matherson replied. "Your record as youngest captain of a Starfleet vessel has been broken—by yourself."  
"How’d I end up captain of the _Enterprise_ so early?” Julius asked.  
"Nero destroyed more than just Vulcan, Jim," Matherson replied, calling his husband by a nickname he hadn’t used in years.  
Julius ignored the slip, knowing that it wasn’t the time for teasing, as Matherson continued speaking.  
"The majority of our class died after warping to Vulcan, thinking it was a natural disaster, not a heart-broken Romulan from the future of another timeline."  
"Chekov, Sulu, Uhura, Scotty—my crew, what about them?" Julius asked.  
"As far as I was able to discover, the entire crew of the _Enterprise_ , those who served under you after Mitchell’s death, all managed to make their way onboard the _Enterprise_ despite all of the changes that occurred as a result of the destruction of the _Kelvin_ ,” Matherson replied.  
"The destruction of the _Kelvin_?” echo’d Julius. “The _Kelvin_ was destroyed?”  
"At least now I know where your self-sacrificing idiocy came from," Matherson muttered.  
"James, what are you talking about?" Julius demanded.  
"Your father died the day you were born in that other timeline, Julius," Matherson replied. "He was captain of the _Kelvin_ long enough to fly it into Nero’s ship.”  
"What about your counterpart?" Julius asked, deciding that they needed to change the subject of the conversation before it got derailed by discussions of his own past actions.  
"Relatively unchanged—no daughter though."  
"No Joanna?" Julius asked. "That world is missing out."  
"Apparently she died of SIDS, which then destroyed his marriage with Jocelyn."  
"How’d you find that out?" Julius asked. "That doesn’t sound like something that would have come up in casual conversation, even with one’s counterpart."  
"I looked it up while I was onboard the _Enterprise_ ,” Matherson admitted.  
"What else did you do?" Julius asked.  
"I helped get our counterparts together."  
"You know what, James, Rosalyn’s right, you are a yenta," Julius declared.  
Matherson scowled at his husband.  
"I am not a yenta, Julius," he growled.  
"You so are, James," Julius insisted. "First Rosalyn and Asher, now our counterparts in another timeline—who’s next?"  
"Aren’t you due for your regular physical, Julius?" Matherson suddenly asked.

~*~

_Observation Deck, USS Enterprise; ‘Alt’ timeline_  
McCoy cocked an eyebrow at Kirk.  
"What’s with all this?" he asked, indicating the fine spread laid out on the table between them.  
"Matherson said you should infect me with C-24 after a good meal, during sex," Kirk replied.  
"I am not having sex with you on the observation deck, Jim," McCoy objected.  
"I wasn’t thinking of that, Bones, but that’s actually a great idea," Kirk replied.  
"I know you get off on the rush, Jim, but I don’t," McCoy pointed out.  
"Is that why I’ve never walked on you even masturbating, Bones?"  
"Dammit, Jim!" 


End file.
